Truths
by SilverAries
Summary: Pansy looks back on her loss and what could have been.


"Truths" By: SilverAries  
  
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all recognisable characters belong to the wonderful J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.  
  
Author's Note: Written for the Draco Ficathon for slytherindrow. I hope you enjoy it. Also, I'd like to thank my two wonderful betas solarphoenix and Ginger92. Thanks ever so much. I love you both.  
  
"Truths"  
  
The pain never really stops. Thirty-three million years could pass, and though I would appear fine, in my heart, that sliver of hurt would still remain. Hidden, the pain of knowing what could have been is strong; it struggles to be freed from its cage; to be expressed, but I know I must never let it out. No one can know the truth. I must be strong, for Draco.  
  
The light was dim, but Pansy Parkinson walked quickly among the shrubs and flowers that grew alongside the marble stepping-stones that led to a private cemetery hidden on a reclusive island near Scotland. She held above her head a lantern that burned dimly in the setting sun. Pansy's once golden blond hair was dulled by prominent grey streaks and the lines on her face told of the hardships she had had to endure during the war. She stopped at a grave overshadowed by a tall holly tree and brought the lantern down to read the inscription, but the stone was shadowed by weeds and the words impossible to read by lamplight. Pansy knelt before the grave and remembered...  
  
It was the beginning of the end.  
  
Pansy sat alone in the Slytherin common room. Half asleep, she waited. Hours past, and the night slowly turned into the morning. The sun was just starting to rise that June morning when Draco finally stumbled into the room, dazed, and hurt. A touch, a mark, a life changed forever. A careless sweep of the arm to expose a cursed Dark Mark branded onto otherwise pale, flawless skin. A stare, a confrontation, and hidden truths exposed forever.  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Draco yelled as Pansy gently touched his mark. He pushed her against the wall, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me? YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME!" Pansy gripped his arm tightly. He let out a little yelp of pain as she wrenched herself away, out of his grasp.  
  
"How could you do this to me?" Angry tears welled up in Pansy's eyes. She rubbed her shoulders where Draco had grasped her.  
  
"How could you turn into your father?"  
  
There was nothing more to say. And for once, Pansy let her tears fall freely.  
  
The same tears ran down Pansy's face twenty years later as she knelt beside the solitary grave. That had been the day in which she had lost all her faith in the goodness of the world. There had been nothing left to live for. That had been the day that had caused her years later to almost die.  
  
"No? Really, I thought we had a choice. You think we choose to become Death Eaters? He chooses us. We are the one he trusts, we are the strong, the powerful. Much better than those pitiful mudbloods and muggle-loving fools who seem to think that love is life. Love is weakness, and I shall not fall into this trap. Power is life and I aim to keep it." With a smirk, Draco walked towards the open door.  
  
"You don't love me?"  
  
Draco paused in the doorway.  
  
"Stupid bitch. What use would I have for love? I'm stronger than that. You know what you're good for."  
  
The air was cold and Pansy shivered in her thin nightgown. She walked slowly across the slippery balcony of Malfoy Manor and looked out into the starry night. Draco was hurrying off in the distance to whoever knows what and suddenly there was nothing left for her. The lanterns in the garden below flickered in the night wind and Pansy prepared herself for the final leap.  
  
"Mummy?" came a single voice from the manor, "Why are you out in the cold?"  
  
A little blond haired girl stood in the doorway clutching a teddy bear close to her chest. "I had a bad dream, can you come tuck me in?  
  
Pansy stood still, a single tear escaping her eyes. She picked up her little grey-eyed daughter and walked into the manor.  
  
"Come, Cassandra love, let's go get a drink of water."  
  
An innocent child caught in the middle of a desperate fight between good and evil. Cassandra had disappeared the next year, presumed dead, a victim of the inner struggles of the Malfoy family. Then only a couple of months after Cassandra's disappearance, the ultimate battle had occurred.  
  
Draco lay on the grass in front of Hogwarts, barely alive once the battle was over. The victim of a single curse meant for Harry Potter, the saviour of the wizarding world. Pansy ran with the others who had stayed behind during the attacks. At his side, she freely let herself cry.  
  
"I love you."  
  
Three simple words. Draco slowly opened his eyes and for once he looked peaceful. His blond hair was dishevelled and his black robes torn and bloodied.  
  
"It was so much easier being evil."  
  
And with that, he died. Once again the man Pansy had loved, Draco had repayed his debts, and at last redeemed, gone back to the light, to their daughter. The night had set upon the scene of a woman crying over a body, over the injustice in the world and for hope; hope for redemption, for freedom, and for true love.  
  
Draco had died that day to save Harry's life. To save the reason he had become a Death Eater in the first place. A true example of the path between light and darkness, even now, Draco gave her hope. Pansy rose one last time and before disappearing once more into the night air, left a single flower for the grave that the moonlight now revealed:  
  
Draco  
Born: October 27, 1980  
Died: June 14, 2005  
  
Beloved husband and father  
  
A true hero 


End file.
